Inuit Tribes and Amanitas
Inuit people are the most widely dispersed group in
the world still leading a partly aboriginal way of life. They live in
a region that spans more than 3,500 miles. This region includes
Greenland, the northern fringe of North America, as well as a sector
of eastern Siberia. Inuit are racially distinct from the North
American Indians. In fact, the Inuit are closely related to the
Mongolian peoples of eastern Asia. The Inuit - Aleut languages are
unrelated to any American Indian language groups.
At no time did the Inuit possess a national or well - defined tribal
sense. The Inuit emphasis was always on the local and familial group
rather than on associations based on land and territory. The terms
Inuit Indians, the Inuit Indians, Inuit tribe and Eskimo are not the
correct names for these kind and gentle people. Inuit simply
means 'The People' in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit and Inuit
is the name they wish to be known by. Inuit - their rightful name,
replaces 'Eskimo' a term based on a Algonkian word meaning 'eaters of
raw flesh.'
The Inuit tribes have a deeply-rooted Shamanistic culture, and had
highly developed methods for initiating new shamans, such as various
forms of isolation and self-denial, such as fasting, solitary
confinement, celibacy, dietary and purity restrictions, and protracted
prayer. Igjugarjuk, a Caribou Inuit shaman, claims to have been
isolated by his mentor in a small snow hut where he fasted and
meditated in the cold, drinking only a little water twice, for thirty
days. After his initiatory vision, which was brought on by the
consumption of the Amanita muscaria mushroom, he continued a rigorous
regime involving a special diet and celibacy:
"Frequently a candidate will gain shamanic powers during a visionary
experience in which he or she undergoes some form of death or personal
destruction and disintegration at the hands of divine beings, followed
by a corresponding resurrection or reintegration that purges and gives
a qualitatively different life to the initiate. For example, a Caribou
Inuit initiate named Igjugarjuk, in his long and arduous initiatory
vision, was at one point reduced to a skeleton and then was 'forged'
with a hammer and anvil. Autdaruta, another Inuit initiate, had a
vision in which he was eaten by a bear and then was vomited up, having
gained power over the spirits." - James R. Davila, "Hekhalot
Literature and Mysticism"
Amanita muscaria (named after Mt. Amanus, the first known habitat for
this fungus) was used by ancient people to control fly populations by
mixing it with milk to stupefy flies. The concoction did not kill the
flies but once they were asleep, they could be easily disposed of. The
Inuit tribes, including the Eskimos and individuals of Russian
descent, have close relationship with reindeer, and were aware that
the reindeer also had an affinity for the Amanita mushroom. The
reindeer had such a great taste for the mushroom that they would be
seen consuming the urine of other reindeer who had recently eaten a
mushroom. If you wanted to catch a reindeer, all you had to do was to
urinate and they would come running.
The shaman would urinate and the followers would consume the urine.
The consumption of the urine was a common practice for several
reasons: 1. The mushroom was highly valued and
expensive
2. The chemicals responsible for severe cramping were filtered out
during the first metabolism (which made the drinking of urine
popular).
3. Consumption of the urine also allowed the next person to experience
a greater intoxication and permitted up to five people, each one
drinking the lasts urine, to become inebriated with just one mushroom.
Eventually the Soma ritual was gradually forgotten, although the Soma
deity still exists in the Hindu religion. As the population spread and
was variously subsumed by other cultures, they began to substitute
other plants, and the identity of Soma was lost for 2000 years.
Mushroom stones dated as far back as 6,000 years ago indicate the
existence of a mushroom religion in Mesoamerica at least that far
back.
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